


It's OK to cry

by evilythedwarf



Series: Emma and Bandit!Regina in the Enchanted Forest [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4904683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilythedwarf/pseuds/evilythedwarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Emma cries, and Regina tells her it’s ok.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's OK to cry

When they finally stop running, when they finally find a place they can call home, Henry towers over them both. He is 14 years old, and handsome, and strong, and Emma can’t quite believe it. She’s always surprised when she sees him walking towards them, a deer slung across his back, his brown hair short and neat instead and looking less and less like the little boy who knocked on her door over 4 years ago.

It’s enough to make her grateful, so grateful, that she caught the last bits of his childhood, and it makes her sad because now all she has are the hazy memories of a life that was never really hers; memories Regina gave her and are slowly fading away, and no matter how hard she tries to cling to them, no matter how much she wishes she could remember every single detail, those were never hers anyway.

She finds Regina in the back yard, weeding the herb garden. Her long hair is in a braid and Emma pushes it to the side and kisses her neck. “Henry brought dinner,” she says.

“Mhm,” Regina murmurs, leaning against Emma’s chest.

“The kid can hunt, Regina, but he’s not much of a cook,” she says, wrapping her arms around the other woman’s waist. They stand up, well practiced by now to move together, and they don’t separate until they reach the kitchen, where Henry, beaming Henry, has deposited his bounty on the heavy oak table.

“I caught a deer!” he proudly proclaims.

“I can see, darling,” Regina says, and she walks towards her, strokes his cheek. She’d kiss the top of his head, if he wasn’t so tall. Henry high fives Emma, but then his happiness dims, and she wonders what has happened. What did she says, or didn’t say. What did Regina say? Because as much as they’ve grown to be a family, as much as Henry is theirs, there are still moments when she knows that Henry misses his mom. His mother, Regina.

But no. He’s looking at her instead.

“What’s up?” she asks, concerned.

Henry reaches into his leather satchel and pulls a cloth covered black raven, its dead eyes open and fixed.

“It was following me,” Henry says. “I thought it was best to just shoot it.”

“You thought right,” Regina says, taking it from his hands.

Emma walks away.

She leaves the house, and walks outside. Past the garden and into the forest. She walks, and walks and walks.

Until she can’t walk anymore.

Regina finds her, later. How much later, she doesn’t know, but it’s cold, and she brings a hood for Emma to wear on the trek back.

“Do you think she’ll ever give up?” Emma asks.

“No,” Regina answers honestly.

“At least she can’t hurt us here,” Emma murmurs.

Regina stops walking. She takes her hand in hers.

“She can’t cross the border, but she can still hurt you,” she says, before pulling her into a hug.

Emma’s lips begin to tremble, and she closes her eyes, willing herself not to give in. It’d be so easy to give in. Regina, who doesn’t really understand what Emma’s feeling, because how could she? How could anyone?

She understands her though.

“You know, it’s ok to cry,” she tells her, and Emma smiles, because just those words make her want to stop.

“I know,” she says. She holds on a little tighter for a second and then she lets go.

“Come on,” Regina tells her, holding out her hand. “Dinner’s ready.”


End file.
